Is Harrison Ford officially back as Han Solo?

David Konow, 16th February 2013

When the news broke that there would be more new Star Wars movies, it was quite a bombshell.

George Lucas was able to keep things so tightly under wraps that there were no leaks anywhere, not even with the geek sites, which are usually pretty good at ferreting out secrets.

The other big bombshell was that several of the original Star Wars alumni, namely Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, are going to come back for the next film. Don’t forget, these are the last three chapters of the saga, so this is what happens after Return of the Jedi. Now the news has hit that supposedly, allegedly, reputedly, Harrison Ford has now officially come aboard.

This news, if it is indeed true, was reported by Latino Review, and this rumor made it all over the net like wildfire. The person who broke the story, Umberto “El Mayimbe” Gonzalez, also told the Daily Beast, “I found out yesterday [Thursday, February 14]. I did my due diligence, like I do with everything. Triple checked. Legitimate sources…His deal is done.”

Now of course remember everything on Star Wars is top secret, and will probably continue to be until the next movie comes out. And there’s been no official confirmation or denial from the powers that be on any of this just yet. Treat this as strictly a rumor right now, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it’s indeed true, because we know that Ford has indeed expressed interest in coming back.

Yet as reporter Geoff Boucher has tweeted, “Harrison Ford deal? My source says not yet. ‘It will not be for weeks and perhaps months.’” Boucher did the Hero Complex column for the L.A. Times for many years, and is now writing for Entertainment Weekly, so he definitely knows his stuff, and even if the ink isn’t dry on the contract, it doesn’t mean that the deal won’t close soon.

So again, we’re not surprised this story is going around again. We’ve known that the three main primaries of Star Wars have been rumored to come back to the empire again for a while now. The question is, will it hurt our childhood memories to see our sci-fi heroes at middle age, and in Ford’s case, past senior citizen age?

It could be tough for us geeks to face growing older like this, especially considering the original Star Wars will be pushing forty by the time the next installment hits theaters in 2015. It’s also amazing to think that those of us who grew up with Star Wars in the 70’s are now seeing the saga come full circle like this. It’s weird to think of talking to our grandkids about Star Wars, but considering the saga’s going to continue on for a while now, I guess it’s inevitable.